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Rock band Free were sitting in their dressing room after a really terrible gig. One of them tried to bolster their spirits by acknowledging how awful it had been, but that was over, it was ‘all right now’ and they should look forwards. Having had little effect initially, he started chanting it like a mantra and they suddenly found themselves writing their biggest hit ever that still endures some 45 years later.

Great post Dave. I have two comments. A gold album is 500K units. So only 0.16 Americans loved that album. While financially successful not broadly successful. Second is the Suntan Ad because it sums up what I hate about Advertising and the Awards system. Instead of saying ‘Went on to double their market share that year’…you won an award. The first is important to the client….the second is not unless…it doubled the market share for the brand. Us CFO’s have to keep you creatives honest. Your homework is to present how well the campaign did for the client….not for you. Cheers.

I don’t disagree with any of that Howie, especially about awards, but remember I’m a creative.
Also remember what Einstein said “Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts”.

great post dave. and so true. must always keep the antenna up. it’s funny how when you’re thinking hard about something, everything you encounter gets put through an unconscious ‘might this help?’ mental filter.